DD:Is the UK's Foreign Policy

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The diminishing influence of UK in matters of international security can be seen especially in the Middle East with the lack of propositional role in Middle East peace process, the backlash of the controversial invasion of Iraq, lack of resources.

According to John Baron MP, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the House of Commons, the UK has made a series of errors in the region starting from the Iraq war and ending with intervention in Libya and the ongoing campaign against ISIS. He stated that these failures are due to the dilution of skills in the political establishment in terms of Foreign Policy that has led to lack of understanding of the region structures due to the budgets cuts and other factors making the FCO budget half of that of the French Foreign Affairs ministry.

Another official was critical of the UK foreign policy in the Middle East. Last year, Baroness Warsi resigned from her role as Minister of State at the FCO in protests for the UK position regarding the Israeli war on Gaza last summer.

The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on External Affairs has issued a warning on The diminishing role of the UK but this time in Europe and regarding the Ukraine crisis. The Committee found that the Foreign Office has lost expertise and analytical capacity on Russia and the region, and that the UK and other Member States were unable to read events on the ground and offer an authoritative response. The Government needs to reconsider how it can regain these skills.

The lack of trust in its analytical expertise and certainly divisive invasion of Iraq has made the UK government cautious regarding any external intervention. The intervention in Libya which appeared, at the time, to be necessary to save lives of thousands of Libyans from their notorious dictator; this intervention was followed by the country turned into chaos in the absence of any viable plan for the transitional period. This confirms John Barons Statement that lack of understanding of the region leads to failure of engagement in the region. The parliament opposed intervention in Syria while it supported a low key role in Iraq's war against ISIS. These recent developments in the Middle East and the Ukraine crisis raises the question whether the UK's foreign policy's engagements are beyond its resources and how the UK can restore its role in both regions.